More than 500 people have been stung by scorpions in Aswan, Egypt. Heavy rain forced hundreds of eight-legged creatures into streets and into people's homes earlier this week. Many of people who were stung had to go to hospital. Doctors gave them anti-venom injections. The people were able to go home after having jab. Those stung by scorpions had symptoms including severe pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. The Health Ministry has put hospitals on alert just in case more people are stung. weather expert asked farmers in area to be careful, especially when planting crops. In addition, he asked people to be careful of snakes, which were also seen after rain.
People in Aswan are worried because scorpions in their town are very dangerous. They are Arabian fat-tailed scorpions. Their nickname is "man-killer". Al Jazeera news agency says they are among most dangerous scorpions in world. The venom in their sting is very poisonous and can kill human within hour. However, fat-tailed scorpions live in mountains and rarely come into contact with humans. weather expert advised people to wear proper footwear when they went outside to avoid getting bitten. He said scorpion numbers would go down after rainwater dried up. Less than one per cent of world's scorpion species are deadly.
